Walter pringle and robert pringle



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W. 85 R. LPRINGLE.

THREAD CARRIER FOR KNITTING MACHNRS Paente, S, i898.

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j l EE@ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VALTER PRINGLE AND ROBERT PRINGLE, OF HAWlCK, SCOTLAND.

TH READ-CARRIER FOR lKNl'l'TlNG-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 507,929, dated October 31, 1893. Application filed August 11, 1893. Serial No. 482,886. (No model.) Patented in England May 7. 1892, No. 8.674.

To all whom, t may concern:

Beit known that we, VALTER PRINGL'E. and

ROBERT PRINGLE, subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Hawick, in the county of Roxburgh, Scotland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thread-Carriers for Knitting-Machines, (for which we have obtained Letters Patent in Great Britain, No. 8,674, dated May 7, 1892;) and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will lenable others skilled in the art to which it appel-'rains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to thread carriers or guides for straight bar knitting machines with movable needles, and the object of our improvements is the manufacture of abetter class-of knitted plaited goods or fabrics than 't is possible to make with any other appliance `with which we are acquainted.

XVe attain the object of our invention by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings in Which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of our improved thread carrier; Fig. 2 a front elevation of the same and Fig. 3 a plan of the same. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of an alternative method of co struct-ing our thread carrier; Fig. 5 an elevation of the arrangement of cams used for making an article which is fashioned at the sides only and Fig. 6 an elevation of the arrangement of the cams used for making the heel and instep of a stocking.

Our improved carrier is attached to a carrier rod a which may be of any of the ordinary sections, and mounted and actuated by the usual mechanisms, the length of the travcrse of the same being regulated byk stopsy "which are moved byscrews as is usual in this class of machines. The carrier rod a is provided with brackets b to which the plate cis adj nstably attached, this latter carrying the thread guide d which in our improved carrier is made with an eye e for the knitting thread, andl a tube f for the plaiting thread. This tube fis fitted to slide in the end of the guide d and is connected by a link g to a lever h which is pivoted at k upon the platee and is acted upon by a springZ which always tends to keep the tube f in its lowest position.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 4 the tube f is connected directly to the lever h,the end of which is slotted to allow of its moving freely, while the upper end of the tube is guided by the plate c.

In the manufacture of knitted plaited work it is desirable that the plaiting thread should be laid upon the needles in such a position that when the loops are knocked over the same the plaiting thread shall appear upon the face of the fabric, and we do this with our carrier.

When making an article which has to be fashioned at the sides only we use to each division of the machine the arrangement of cams shown at Fig. 5.l The cams m at the left hand side of each division are all mounted upon a rod fn; which is connected at the end of the machine to the fashioning screw nut, by which the cams are maintained at the same relative position with the selvage of the fabric. The cams o at the right hand side of each division of needles are mounted upon a rod p, which is connected to, and actuated by a screw nut at the end of the machine opposite to that carrying the screw for the rod fn. W hen the thread carriers start to traverse across the needles from left to right, the 1evers h pass 'from under the cams 'm whereupon the springs Z force down the tubes f which remain in their lowest position until the carriers reach the opposite side of the fabric, when the levers h pass under the cams o, which raise the tubes f and allow the sinkers to come forward and divide the thread upon the needles without damaging the carriers or sinkers.

When a knitted plaited stocking is being made with our carriers, the leg portion is made in the same way as an article fashioned at the sides only. When the heel and instep are reached, the stocking is divided, and two additional heeling thread. carriers brought into action, the legging being then used for the instep. The heel pieces require fashioning at the outside edges and the cams q and fr Fig. 6 are used, these cams being mounted upon rods s and t which areconnected to and actuated bythe fashioning screws. The inside edges of the heel and outside edges of the instep are made parallel to each other, and

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the tubes of the thread carriers when at these edges are raised by the cams u, and fu which may be arranged to act upon the instep and heeling carriers alternately. The cams u and v may be removably attached to a fixed rod w or each cam may be attached to a separate rod capable of being movedendwise clear of the carriers when required. After the heel is completed the heeling carriers and the cams u and QJ are thrown out of action,rv and the foot and toe of the stocking made bythe legging carrier, the cams qand r being brought into action for this portion of the stocking and for the fashionings at the toe. Y

We are aware that knitting machine thread carriers have been made with one fixed eye, and with an eye capable of being moved to the right or left of vthe former, and we lay no claim to carriers of this description, nor to the general principle of a thread carrier with z'o I two guide eyes. y

What we do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States, is-

A knitting machine thread carrier hav-ing one Xed eye for the knitting thread; and a 25 second eye in the form of a tube for the plaiting thread, the tube being connected to a lever by which itcan be raised and lowered at the end and beginning of the traverse ot the thread carrier by means of cam surfaces 3o mounted upon bars capable of being moved in and out.

WALTER PRINGLE. ROBERT PRINGLE. 

